Silence In The Skies
by A Once Told Story
Summary: Part 1 in the Silence Trilogy. A strange noise is disturbing Berk, coming from across the sea at night. Hiccup and the Riders decide to go and investigate, but things take a turn for the worse when Hiccup and Toothless go down in a storm. They crash on an uninhabited island where they must fight to survive and get to the mysterious noise that is somehow bothering Toothless.
1. Nightly Terror

**Author's note (20-05-2014):** This story has been updated with a new version of the first two chapters! Please, re-read these chapters if you've read them before!

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I

**NIGHTLY TERROR**

Hiccup had half expected that he would not get any sleep this night either. He lay on his bed, twisting and turning to find a comfortable position, all the while pressing the fabric of the blanket into his ears to shut the noise out. But no matter how much he tried, the noise still broke into his dreams. The noise held so much pain and sadness in it that his dreams darkened and turned into nightmares. It transformed a proud father into a vicious barbarian. It invaded a peaceful flight on the back of Toothless and had it end in disaster. Tonight, that was what had happened. Hiccup was almost glad that he could not sleep, for he did not long to get back to the world in his head where both he and Toothless were falling out of the sky with no hope of surviving.

Hiccup sat up in his bed, breathing heavily. He shook the horrible thoughts out of his head and scanned the room around him. It was pitch black with only a few rays of moonlight peaking through the gaps between the roof planks. The moonlight fell on the magnificent creature curled up in the corner. His black scales were even darker than the night he was named after, as if his skin swallowed any light that tried to illuminate it. Hiccup thought the dragon looked tense and realized that Toothless was not asleep. He had covered himself with his huge wings and pulled his legs in under him. The Night Fury, usually an impressive and intimidating sight, looked so very small. Hiccup watched him for a while before throwing the blanket aside. He carefully put his iron prosthetic leg down on the floor. Toothless' ears reacted to the almost inaudible sound and turned in the boy's direction, but the dragon did not move. Hiccup walked over to him by the window and sat down next to his head. It surprised Hiccup that Toothless did not look at him.

"Hey, you okay, bud? Is the sound bothering you?"

Toothless opened his huge, green-glowing eyes and growled a reply. When Hiccup gently started scratching him behind the ear the dragon instantly relaxed a little. He moved his head closer to the boy's leg, touching it with his muzzle.

"It's okay," Hiccup said. "I can't sleep either with that going on."

He tried to prevent a yawn but instead it got so intense he got tears in his eyes. The yawn rubbed off on Toothless who gawked so much his retractable teeth peeked through the gums. Hiccup smiled tiredly and caressed the dragon right between the eyes, a spot he knew Toothless enjoyed him stroking. Through the roof window he could see the stars twinkling like little jewels scattered about the black canopy. He would have enjoyed any night like this one, but the noise prevented that. It wasn't very loud, just penetrating and powerful. This was the sixth night in a row that the noise had disturbed the Isle of Berk. For hours and hours it went on, only stopping a few minutes now and then, from the last light of one day vanished until dawn broke on the next. People were beginning to suffer from lack of sleep — Hiccup and Toothless included. Usually the villagers would have geared up and gone after whatever was making the sounds by now and tried to stop it. But this was different.

The noise was coming from across the sea to the North, a part of the world from where nobody who had ventured there had ever returned. There were no inhabitable islands as far as any existing map could tell, and beyond that the waters were uncharted. Vikings spoke of legends that the end of the Earth lay not too far in that direction, and that any ship which sailed there would fall of the edge and never be seen again. No one from Berk had ever traveled that far, and no one planned on it. The idea of going after the source of the nightly noise was considered foolish and suicidal. However, it had not been entirely unusual for the thought to cross Hiccup's mind over the last few days, but he had ignored it.

Hiccup heard a loud bang from downstairs and figured his father had given up on sleeping as well and was taking out his anger and tire on the dinner table. Since there was no longer any reason for Hiccup or Toothless to remain quiet in their room, Hiccup rose to his feet and stretched his back.

"How about we take a midnight flight?" he proposed the dragon. "It's quieter on the other side of the island."

Toothless immediately lifted his head with his ears up high and eyes glistening with excitement. With his eyes not yet used to the darkness, Hiccup fumbled his way back to the bed and pulled Toothless' leather saddle out from underneath it. Toothless wagged his tail when he saw the saddle, dragging the artificial tail fin across the uneven floor.

Hiccup laughed at the dragon's cuteness. "Careful with the fin, bud. It took me three days to repair that last time."

With practiced hands Hiccup strapped the saddle onto the Night Fury's back and secured the straps around the legs. He had to tighten the girth a notch so that it would not move around when he sat in the saddle. Hiccup couldn't remember the last time he had to do that, but he did not worry himself about it. Toothless' weight went up and down like waves on a stormy sea depending on how much fish the village could spare for the dragons.

"It's been a few days since we last went on a fishing trip, you and me," he noted. Toothless looked at him hopefully and made a quiet growl that reminded Hiccup of a rumbling stomach. "I'll see if we can't spare the afternoon tomorrow and go to the Cove. I bet you'd love that."

The dragon made an attempt at a smile, his empty gums making him look so silly that Hiccup just had to laugh. After he attached the control rod from the stirrups to the tail fin, Hiccup fetched his yak fur coat and sat up in the saddle. He took a firm grip of the pommel and shot the end of his iron leg into place in the left stirrup, flicking it upwards to fold out the artificial tail fin. Eager as he was to get away from the tormenting noise still sounding through the village, Toothless spread his wings and took to the air through the window in the roof.

It was no surprise that the villagers were up and moving although the hour was late. Hiccup watched his neighbors go about the business they would have usually tended to during the day, like cleaning out the stables and fetching water. Berk looked like a ghost town from far up in the sky were Hiccup swept by, with only the light of burning torches and the moonlight to illuminate the frozen streets. As he and Toothless flew across the village towards the south of the island, they passed Town Hall. It should have been empty and closed at this time, but along with the rest of Berk it was crowded. A few dozen vikings had gathered outside the gates like a mob demonstrating for a common cause, and all the way up on Toothless' back Hiccup could hear their calls. They complained about the noise, of course. Hiccup's father had come home the other night red in the face with self-control and utterly exhausted from having handled the masses throwing complaints and demands upon him to end their nightly torment. Hiccup only wished he could do something to help.

Even as they passed Buckle Cliff, a sharp rock face on the south-east coast, the noise diminished. Hiccup felt like a pressure vanished from his eardrums and his spirit was instantly lifted. If he had not known Toothless' body better than his own, he might not have felt the dragon's muscles flex and relax underneath him. Toothless too felt better without that noise hammering in his ears. The pair reached their destination, a secret cave on the far side of High Peak Mountain where they would sometimes go to get away from their daily duties. Here they had spent many hours sky diving, enjoying the sunshine or taking cold showers in the small waterfall that cascaded over the mouth of the cave. It was frozen solid now, hanging like enormous icicles from the rock ceiling. As soon as Hiccup slid out of the saddle, Toothless went over to the ice and breathed hot air onto it, creating a stream of melted water that he then licked up. Hiccup gathered some in his cupped hands and splashed his face. The cold was refreshing.

Hiccup sat down on the very edge of the cave opening, letting his real leg dangle off the cliff. He took off his fake leg to let the injury rest against the cold rock. Even after three years the amputation still bothered him sometimes. He felt something against his back and soon he had Toothless' head underneath his arm willing him with big eyes to scratch his ears. The Night Fury lay down behind Hiccup and pulled his tail up across the boy's knee to keep him from falling. No words could describe how naturally happy the two of them were right now.

Hiccup yawned again. "You're good to have, bud. The best, actually."

The dragon sounded like he was purring and Hiccup smiled. That's when his thoughts puzzled together and revealed the answer to all his problems. He wanted to help stop the nightly noise that terrorized the village, and he _could_ – in fact he and the Dragon Riders were the only ones who did. They had dragons after all, which they could fly without problem, and Hiccup had the sturdiest and fastest of them all to top it. They needed no ship that could sink or go over the end of the Earth to get to whatever was making the noise. If they could fly there and stop the noise at its source, Berk would be free of it and everybody could go back to getting the good night's rest that they all needed.

Hiccup leaned back against Toothless' chest, looking up into the sky as he went over the entire plan with the dragon. All that was left to do was get the rest of the Riders to come with him and, hardest of all, persuade his father to let him do it. Snow flakes started filling the air, falling quietly towards the valley far below. Hiccup pulled the fur coat tighter around him and let his eyes fall shut.

It wasn't long before he was asleep, curled up underneath Toothless' wing, dreaming about what adventure lay before them tomorrow.

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**Next chapter (Preparations) —** Hiccup gets ready to set out on his new mission, but to do that there are a few things he needs to take care of first, especially his father.

**Thank you for reading, and don't forget to leave a review and tell me what you think about the story (and the update on this chapter!)**


	2. Preparations

**Author's note (20-05-2014):** This story has been updated with a new version of the first two chapters! Please, re-read these chapters if you've read them before!

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II

**PREPARATIONS**

Day had broken later than it usually did for Hiccup and Toothless as the sun had not reached their cave until near mid-day. Stiff from the cold where the Night Fury's heat had not been helpful, but unusually rested after many hours of undisturbed sleep, Hiccup spent their entire daily morning flight to plan out exactly what to tell his father of his idea. When later that day he finally managed to get a private audience with a very busy and indeed very irritable and tired Stoick, he chose his words with great care. "Of course I won't land on hostile islands, Dad" and "Toothless will be with me the whole time" were sentences he repeated more than once. To his great surprise and relief however, when Hiccup had finished his speech and fallen silent, Stoick had a look on his face that seemed almost thankful.

"I wish it did not have to rest on your shoulders, Hiccup," he'd said, sighing deeply. "But I guess you're right. The villagers won't stand that noise much longer. 'Ey might just fly off on their own dragons if it does not stop. A'least you and your friends know what yer doing."

Hiccup was sure that his father had let him go just a little too easy, and he turned out to be right. Before Hiccup could leave, Stoick gave him the speech on how he needed to be careful and make sure that neither of his friends, especially the twins, strayed from the group, that he must not fly near storms or get himself in unnecessary trouble. He even made sure to tell Toothless that the dragon better bring Hiccup home safely, or else. He never finished the threat though, as the Night Fury had begun to flare his nostrils at the chief, obviously offended. Stoick then gave a sincere smile to both the dragon and his son, saying nothing more on the matter. He knew just as well as Hiccup did that Toothless would protect his rider with his life should it ever be needed again.

Before Stoick could leave to return to whatever business that awaited, Hiccup stole a hug from his father. Stoick returned the gesture lovingly, patted his son on the back and went off.

Hiccup decided he'd start the gathering of the Riders at Snotlout's house, as the shortest and most big-mouthed of his friends always took the longest to get prepared. He knew from experience that it mostly had to do with Hookfang, Snotlout's fiery Monstrous Nightmare, being so unwilling to listen to his prideful rider. But Hiccup liked to think that Snotlout really spent an hour looking at his reflection in his sword before leaving the house, a story that Astrid had most probably made up to pay him back for something.

Snotlout was unexpectedly positive to the idea of going after the source of the nightly noise.

"If we find the thing that makes those sounds, I'll personally silence it with this!" he blurted, waving his sword in Hiccup's face. "Nothing's gonna get away with ruining my beauty sleep."

Hiccup near fell over trying not to laugh so hard. "_Beauty sleep_?" he repeated.

"You're obviously not getting any," Snotlout snorted, then proved Astrid correct by looking at the reflection of his face in his blade. "It takes time to become as handsome as me."

Hiccup had a few hilarious remarks to reply to that, but swallowed them all. "We meet in the Academy as soon as possible — we want to be well on our way before night falls and that noise starts again."

Snotlout only listened with one ear and waved him off. "Yeah, yeah, I'll be there."

After a quick trip to a feeding station to get Toothless something to eat, both friends went by Fishlegs' house and briefed him on the plans. Although skeptical at first of the safety of such a venture — even bringing up the legend of the edge of the world being in that direction — Hiccup managed to persuade him to come with them. Ruffnut and Tuffnut did not need much convincing. They were already overtired and climbing the walls at home for some relief from their hyper energetic tire. Astrid was not at home when Hiccup went by, but he soon found her in the woods just outside the village, where she could usually be found.

Hiccup startled her when he came flying into the small clearing, singing above the frost covered trees like nothing but a shadow before landing smoothly behind her. She had her throwing axe in hand, ready to toss it into a marked tree, when the sound of Toothless' wing beats disturbed the silence.

"Hiccup!" she exclaimed. "You'd get hurt sneaking up on someone like that."

"I didn't mean to scare you," Hiccup excused himself with a smile as he unhooked his iron foot from its stirrup.

"You're not the scary one," Astrid remarked jokingly. "But Toothless comes up like a lightning bolt."

She caressed the Night Fury's snout and gave Hiccup a proper hello hug. She smelled of sweat and dragon, a mix that Hiccup could not help but think fit her.

"Did you fly out here just to watch me practice or to get away from your father?" she smiled as she pulled away.

"Neither, actually. I spoke with the other riders. We have to do something about that noise."

Astrid's cheerful mood was instantly lowered and energy seemed to drain from her like water off a melting icicle. She glanced over Hiccup's shoulder to the spot where Stormfly lay outstretched on the ground, the snow melted around her from her body heat. The Deadly Nadder was half asleep and would not rise up to play with Toothless like she usually did whenever they met.

Astrid's voice got a serious undertone to it. "You've got a plan to make it stop?"

"We're going after it," Hiccup explained. "We fly tonight when the noise is sounding, and we follow it until we find whatever is making it."

"Hiccup, there are no islands as far as we know of in that direction. If we don't find the source before dawn, where are we going to land?"

Hiccup was about to object, but he could think of nothing to say. He had not thought of the fact that there was nowhere to land since he decided upon this quest. He looked at Toothless, who met his gaze and walked over to push gently at his rider's arm with his warm muzzle. Hiccup glanced at the artificial tail fin, almost glowing red in contrast to the dragon's black hide and the white snow. Once the Night Fury might have been able to fly for days on end without landing for all Hiccup knew. But with the extra weight of the boy on his back and the saddle gear, their record lay at a steady seven hours airborne at normal gliding speed. That's not counting the energy it takes for both rider and dragon to keep in perfect sync during flight with that noise constantly hammering in their ears. Hiccup could already feel it bore into his mind and that was only in his memory. He wanted it gone — gone from Berk and gone from his head.

"How long can Stormfly stay airborne?"

Glancing Stormfly's way, Astrid gave it a thought. "Just under five hours, I think. Nadder's aren't known for their stamina. And Stormfly has not slept well lately. None of us have."

Silence fell for a moment as both teens thought through the situation. Something lit up in Astrid's crystal blue eyes, and the mare sight of it lifted Hiccup's heart a bit. "The ice might be thick enough to land on for some of the lighter dragons," she noted. "Maybe we can find an iceberg or something."

She looked quizzically at Hiccup, waiting patiently for his decision. Toothless yawned, not for the first time today. He shook his head, as if trying to get the drowsiness to go away, and leaned in to Hiccup's touch.

"We'll figure something out," Hiccup finally said, more to Toothless than to Astrid. "If any of the others feel like it not worth the risk, they'll just have to stay behind."

— — —

Hiccup and Astrid were the last to arrive at the old dragon fighting arena, their current dragon _training_ arena. The sun was beginning to creep down the horizon, hidden behind thick clouds now painted in a cascade of dull colors. Snow fell mercilessly over the island and the near frozen ocean surrounding it. Although Hiccup and Gobber had installed a roof that could be pulled over the arena to protect it from weather like this, the wind had blown large piles of snow through the barred gates. This of course had lead to a quite war-like snow ball fight between the twins, which it wasn't long before Snotlout had joined in on.

Hiccup was unfortunate enough to walk into the arena at the exact moment when Tuffnut got a snow ball on her back, making the snow ball she was just throwing hit Hiccup square in the face instead of her brother. Hiccup fell backwards onto the ground as he lost his footing, too fast for even Toothless to catch him. The Night Fury pushed his snout in under his rider's arm and helped him to stand up again, then growled angrily at Tuffnut with pupils thinned down.

Snotlout dropped his snow ball and took an intimidating step towards the dragon, waving a fist at him. "Hey, stop growling at her or I'll make a carpet out of you!"

This, of course, did not help Toothless' state of mind at all. He unfolded his wings to their full width, rose onto his hind legs and beat a powerful gust of wind towards the small but sturdy Viking, making him fall flat to the ground.

Hiccup ran up to Toothless to calm him down, while Tuffnut could not stop laughing at Snotlout's defeat. Ruffnut only rolled her eyes and went over to Barf and Belch, her and her brother's shared two-headed Zippleback. Pretending like she had not noticed Snotlout's lousy try at protecting her, she mindlessly went through her saddle bag to seem occupied.

"Hey," she called suddenly. "You did not pack any underwear for me!"

Tuffnut turned and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, you packed four pairs for me. You can use those. What am I going to do with four whole pairs?"

"Duh, change them once in a while, maybe?"

Astrid broke in before the two of them could go head to head with one another, pushing them apart. "Quit fooling around and listen! Hiccup's got something to say."

Once the twins cut it out, Snotlout had glared angrily at Toothless for a while and Fishlegs had dared come up to the rest of the group, Hiccup was finally allowed to speak.

"If we are going to find the source of the noise, we have to fly north, as I've told you all," he explained, going slowly for the twins' sake. "However, there's a slight problem with that — there are no islands there, as far as any Viking on Berk knows. We'll have to fly for long periods of time without stopping, and we can't be sure the ice will be thick enough to land on."

"What's your point?" Tuffnut asked impatiently.

"My _point_ is that if any of you think that your dragon won't be able to fly great distances without stopping, you might want to stay on Berk."

Hiccup had given every one of them a look, but deliberately stopped on Fishlegs. The rather muscular and chubby Viking said nothing at first, only looking down onto his knotted hands. But as soon as he met Hiccup's friendly gaze, he let his shoulders sink a little and let out a breath.

"I know what you're thinking, and you're right," he said. "My beautiful Meatlug is not cut out for this kind of thing." Then he shot a quick glance Tuffnut's way, looking almost a bit disappointed. "I guess we'll stay right here and look after the arena… or something."

With that he went over to his precious Gronckle and scratched her under the chin. The boulder-like dragon waved its stubby tail happily and licked Fishlegs' hands and face affectionately. Hiccup hated doing this to his friend, but he felt like he'd endanger both rider and dragon by letting them come.

"Nothing personal, Fishlegs," Astrid called after him with a kind smile, to which Fishlegs replied with a half-hearted smirk.

"Anyone else?" Hiccup asked, but neither Snotlout nor the twins would back out. He had not expected them to — Barf and Belch had the best stamina of the teens' dragons, after Toothless that is, and Snotlout's dragon Hookfang was a force to be reckoned with in any situation. "Alright then, saddle up!"

Just that moment, the teens in front of him started looking over his shoulder. Hiccup turned to see Stoick sweeping through the gates on the back of his magnificent Skullcrusher. They came to an abrupt halt and Stoick near fell out of the saddle as the pair was not yet completely used to each other.

"I hoped you'd still be here," he said as he dug for something in the bag attached to the dragon's saddle. He pulled out a bunch of rolled-up papers and handed them to Hiccup. "I found these in the archives. Perhaps you'll find 'em useful."

Hiccup gave his father a curious look as he untied the leather band and unrolled the first paper. It was wrinkled and tattered but still intact after years and years of use and storage. On its stained surface was a map drawn with faded ink, covering large areas of water all around the Isle of Berk. To the west lay the Dragon Spine, a large number of smaller isles going all the way from Berk to Dragon Island. A bit further south lay the territories of the Berserker Tribe, and to the south-east awaited Outcast Island. Hiccup scanned the map with keen eyes. To the north of the little circle that was Berk, the waters were near empty. A few dots that he hoped symbolized islands were scattered around the riders' presumed route, and one bigger one near the edge of the map. In the margin of the map someone had scribbled a few runes that had near vanished over the years.

"_No return_," Astrid read over Hiccup's shoulder. "I guess we'll find that out." She looked up to her chief, unsure whether he would reprimand her or not. He gave her the slightest of a nod of approval, although hesitant.

Rolling the map back up and securing the leather string around it, Hiccup smiled at his father. "Thanks, Dad."

"I trust you. All of you," Stoick said to the teens with a serious voice. Then he turned once more to Hiccup. "Yer growing up, son, and I know that you and Toothless can take care of yourselves. Just remember that the noise could be anything. Thor's wrath and Loki's terror is in that sound."

By now, all the other teens had mounted their dragons and stood ready to fly, waiting more or less impatiently for their unnamed leader to join them. Toothless had come up to his rider and was nudging at his hand. Hiccup let his palm trace the forehead of the Night Fury, allowing him to know that he hadn't forgotten about him. He watched as Stoick gave a single nod, a wordless way of expressing how proud he was of his son, climb back up onto Skullcrusher's back and fly off into the ever darkening eve outside.

Hiccup made sure one last time that his packing would not fall off Toothless' back mid-flight. The Night Fury cooed eagerly and motioned to the setting sun and the beautiful, fiery colors that painted the horizon.

"You're right, bud. It's time."

Hiccup mounted the dragon, hooked on the rems between his flying vest and the saddle and shifted his metal leg to the correct starting position. Checking that his fellow Dragon Riders were all set and ready to fly, Hiccup gave Toothless a gentle clap on the head and the majestic Night Fury took to the air with powerful wing beats. With the sun on their left blinding them with the last light of day, the four teens and their dragons set their course due north into the ever darkening night.

They could still see the lights of Berk like a bundle of stars on the horizon behind them when the noise started again, quickly making the night seem a little less beautiful.

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**Next chapter (The Edge Of The Map) —** A storm is building up, and the teens are headed right into it. Are their dragons strong enough to get through it?

**Do you like the story's potential? Have you anything to say that can help me develop? Please, leave a review and tell me! I enjoy reading them SO much!**


	3. Edge Of The Map

III

**THE EDGE OF THE MAP**

Water. Everywhere there was water. Endless, monotonous and uneventful. Hiccup had been staring into the depth of it for hours on end, more or less lying down on Toothless' neck trying to share the dragon's natural warmth. The fur coat was covered in snow that soon melted and soaked all the way through to Hiccup's tunic. He'd taken off his undershirt and put it across the saddle to be able to sit on it. He had thought of the cold when he packed and got dressed for the journey, but he had not expected it to be quite this freezing. Even the drinking water in its canister had frozen during the first hours of flight, so now Snotlout kept all of the water bottles on Hookfang, who was the dragon with the highest body heat. For short periods of time Hookfang had put himself on fire and the teens had flown near him to warm up, but the restless flight had drained the Monstrous Nightmare's energy. That, and the noise that was still sounding through the night.

A snow flake blew into Hiccup's eye and startled him from his half-awake state. He pulled out his hands from underneath him and massaged them to life against Toothless' hide. The dragon was tiring, that much was certain. They had spent six hours of soaring through the air since their last stop, with near nothing to eat but what Hiccup could spare from his own supplies. It had taken its toll on Toothless. Feeling Hiccup's gentle touch on his head gave him a bit more strength, knowing that at least he was not alone, but even a Night Fury could only hold out for so long and sooner or later they'd have to land.

Hiccup lay down again, stroking Toothless ears as he whispered wearily.

"I'm sorry, bud. I should have thought this out a little better."

Toothless gave a quiet purr that Hiccup took as encouragement, then the dragon breathed out heavily. The hot air blew into Hiccup's face and inside his coat. It wasn't the nicest smell but it helped warm up his body and his sprit. Hiccup brushed his hand across Toothless' chin, scratching it lightly as a silent _thank you_.

"Where _are_ we, Hiccup!?" exclaimed Snotlout suddenly. He gestured dramatically to the air around him. "Do you even know that?"

Hiccup leaned back and pulled a compass and the map his father had given him from the saddle bag. He unrolled it onto Toothless' neck and used his elbows to keep the lower corners down. It was hard to see with the snow blowing into his face, but he could clearly make out the unfaded black line that he used to keep track of where they were on the map. The compass pointed north, as it should. With accustomed ease he grabbed a small vial of ink and a pen from the saddle bag and drew the line a little further in that direction. He was used to drawing while flying, but it was harder to be precise with no sun to help him see. Dawn would soon break, he hoped.

Hiccup looked around him. Stormfly was struggling to keep up the pace. Her wings were much smaller than the rest of the dragons' compared to her size, and she seemed to have suffered worse from the noise than the rest of them. Astrid tried her best to keep the Nadder awake and steady. Snotlout would not allow Hookfang to fall behind, but was respectful enough to stay awake himself to keep his dragon company. Further behind them, Barf and Belch were soaring silently, following the rest of the gang as their riders had both fallen asleep on their necks. Hiccup was afraid that one of them might fall off, but it seemed like the Zippleback had thought of that and kept its balance.

"So?" snorted Snotlout angrily. "Where are we?"

Hiccup sighed and wanted to yell something back, but he kept his tongue. "We're not very far from the edge of the map. An hour or so more and we should be able to find that island I showed you."

"An hour!?" Snotlout whined, trowing himself backwards onto Hookfang's neck and pulling his hair. "I'm going crazy with this noise axing my brain!"

Astrid shot Hiccup a downcast look, hoping just as much as he did that they found land soon. Neither of them said anything while Snotlout continued his bellowing. Hiccup put the map and the compass away and returned to lying down and scratching Toothless behind the ears. He was beginning to feel stupid for not bringing warmer clothes or more food for the dragons. He'd figured they'd be able to hunt for fish on the way, but so far only Barf and Belch had been able to reach down far enough into the water to catch some, and they would not share no matter how much Ruffnut and Tuffnut fought with them. But Hiccup would not give up hope. If they returned to Berk without having found out what was causing the nightly sounds, they'd be back on square one — waiting and hoping that someday, some night, the sound would stop.

As he was thinking about the horrors of having to spend every single night from now and on listening to this heart-wrenching, horrible noise, Hiccup noticed something below them. The water was not moving anymore, although the wind had not abated. It had went completely black, like they had hit doldrums in the middle of the ocean. Hiccup watched it tiredly, until suddenly the waves returned like they had always been there.

It took a few seconds for Hiccup to realize that what he had seen was not doldrums, but an island. Very small, but an island none the less.

Astrid had seen it too, and reacted before Hiccup could. "Look! An island!"

Toothless dived almost before Hiccup could set the tail into the right position. Astrid's call had startled the twins awake and together the teens flew down onto the island. It was no more than a huge rock, really, with no trees or inhabitants. The dragons fell down rather than landed, exhausted like never before.

Toothless allowed Hiccup to glide out of the saddle before the dragon's knees bent and he lay down onto the cool ground, moaning tiredly. Hiccup kneeled down next to his head, caressing his scaly forehead and smiling brightly. "Good job, Toothless. You're amazing."

The first light of dawn could be distinguished behind the clouds now. Hiccup watched it for minutes, becoming brighter and brighter. He waited patiently. The rising sun found its way through the clouds, shining beautifully into the ocean far away. Just then, the noise vanished and left a silence in the skies around them. The teens and their dragons let out relieved sighs — even Stormfly, who had fallen asleep on the spot, relaxed when the nightly sound diminished. Hiccup felt how his head became clear again, like thoughts that had been repressed by the noise could suddenly flow freely. Below the palm of his hand Toothless sank even closer to the ground, his green-glowing eyes falling shut as relaxation could finally come.

"You go to sleep, bud," Hiccup smiled. "We'll find you something to eat later."

He detached the saddle bag from Toothless and went over to join his friends by the campfire. It wasn't really a campfire, but rather a pile of rocks that Hookfang had heated up till it was glowing with light and warmth. Hiccup took off his soaked fur coat and laid it out to dry beside the glow heap, then sank down beside Astrid. She moved in closer to him and wrapped her arms around his arm. Her head came to rest heavily on his shoulder, her hair blowing into Hiccup's face. Her body heat spread to Hiccup, and the feeling of having her so near warmed him up on the inside. There they sat with Snotlout and the twins, eating dried meat and berries from their packs while watching snow flakes evaporate as they landed on the glowing rocks. No one said anything, not even Tuffnut, all of them simply enjoying the peace and quiet.

"You can lay down if you want to."

Astrid's whisper startled Hiccup a little where he sat hunched over into his own lap. He had not even realized that he was falling asleep. With Astrid's nodded consent, he slowly slid down to lay with his head on her lap. She pulled the now fairly dry fur coat over him. It wasn't long before Hiccup fell asleep to the sweet sound of dragons snoring.

— — —

Thunder crashed in the air around their island when Hiccup woke up. He could clearly hear the sound of rain, but no rain fell on him. The rock below him was cold and damp, but the rest of his body was warm and cozy. He found it to be quite dark when he opened his eyes and feared that he'd been asleep all day. Only, there was no noise in the air, so it was still daytime. He turned around, still wrapped in his coat, to face Astrid sleeping close beside him. She looked cold, Hiccup thought, so he pulled the fur coat over onto her and crawled away, careful not to wake her. Standing up he bumped his head into something and realized there was a roof above him. He felt it with his fingers, immediately recognizing the web of Toothless' wing. On the other side of Astrid lay the dragon itself, fast asleep with his wings stretched out to protect the teens from the rain and cold.

Hiccup ducked under the wing and out into the storm, and a storm it was. It was sleeting so hard he could barely see the whole of the small island, and the wet snow covered everything. Snotlout was sitting leaned against Hookfang's belly, also covered from the falling snow by his huge wing. The twins had fallen asleep next to Hookfang as well, probably to share his unmatched body heat, with Barf and Belch curled up in front of them like an enormous, breathing knot.

Another deafening crack startled Toothless awake, and in his surprise he pulled his wings off of Astrid. The icy gales soon woke her, and she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"We have to get out of here!" Hiccup called to her over the wind and the waves that crashed into the sides of the island.

"What?" Astrid called back as she stood up and pulled Hiccup's coat tighter around her.

"Wake the others. We have to leave!"

Astrid looked around her. "In this storm? We'll be blown away!"

"We'll be blown into the ocean if we don't leave soon," he countered, gesturing to the ever-growing waves that now spilled over the edge of the cliff.

Astrid nodded and scurried over to their friends, shaking Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut awake. Hiccup joined Toothless by the edge of the cliff. The dragon stood leaned over the water, looking down into it as if searching for something. A shadow in the waves caught his eye and he looked ready to jump in after it, but Hiccup's touch on his shoulder stopped him.

"I know you're hungry, bud, but I don't think you're going to catch any fish in this storm." He tugged lightly at Toothless' girth to have him follow. "Come, we'll see if there's anything left in my bag."

Back at the camp, Snotlout was having trouble making Hookfang stand up. He had resorted to shaking the Monstrous Nightmare's head heavily, yelling at him to move. "Come on, you lazy tree trunk, we have to get going!" He looked to Hiccup questioningly. "He won't move! I think his fire is going out!"

"It's the cold!" Hiccup called back. "Once we get out of this storm he'll be better!"

The raging weather was getting worse by the minute. Hiccup even had trouble hooking up the control rod that had come loose during their rest with the snow blowing into his face. Even with his fur coat back from Astrid, he was freezing to the bone. Toothless tried his best to stand between the wind and his rider, but it did not help much. Hiccup had to dig in the snow where their glow pile had been to find his saddle bag, and once he found it everything in it had been soaked in sleet, including the map. He gave the last of his no-longer-dried meat from the night before to Toothless, who wrinkled his nose at it.

"Come on, Toothless, you haven't eaten anything."

After a short battle of wills, the Night Fury buried his fastidiousness and swallowed the meat reluctantly. Hiccup fastened the bag to the saddle, made sure all of Toothless' gear and the tail fin was securely attached and mounted the dragon. He was already having trouble seeing, so he'd have to trust that Toothless could keep a steady course on his own. If he concentrated instead on the dragon's movements beneath him he could feel what Toothless was doing and adjust the artificial tail fin accordingly. With a light nudge with the stirrup, he had Toothless in the air, closely followed by Stormfly, Hookfang, Barf and Belch and their riders.

It was no easy task flying against the wind. Toothless flapped his wings powerfully to fill them with as much air as he could manage, struggling to move forward. Hiccup answered the motion with a flick of his right metal foot to stabilize the tail fin. The thunder kept growing louder and more ferocious the further north they flew.

The sound of Ruffnut's voice came through to Hiccup. "We have to fly closer to the water!"

It surprised him that it was Ruffnut that had come with the idea, but he did not complain. She was right — the winds were stronger the higher up they flew. The teens steered down towards the water and the winds abated somewhat, but the waves were rising higher than before. They seemed to be heading even further into the eye of the storm, and Hiccup was at loss for what to do. He felt Astrid's worried gaze on his back, heard Snotlout's struggle with a weakened Hookfang. Hiccup knew that going through this storm was extremely dangerous. But if they strayed from their course — a course he trusted Toothless to keep — they might not find another island to land on and they'd never make it home in one run. That was just as much of a risk as challenging Mother Nature at this point.

Toothless roared anxiously and looked back at his rider, a doubtful gleam in his big eyes. Hiccup figured that Toothless might have lost his way after all, and reached back into the saddle bag for the compass. When he opened the bag, the winds caught hold of the map and it flew out. He tried to grab it, but it was far beyond his reach.

"No!" Hiccup yelled, scaring Toothless when he did. "Toothless, we need to catch that map!"

Toothless made a tight turn and flew in the direction Hiccup was steering him. The winds were carrying the map upwards into the sky. Hiccup stood up in the stirrups to try and reach it, but its flight was unpredictable.

"Just… a little… further!"

The gales were tearing at the artificial fin, Hiccup could feel it in the stirrups. They were too far up in the eye of the storm now. A powerful gust of wind caught the fin in the wrong direction just as Hiccup adjusted it, and it yanked free from its controls. The loose tail flapped against Toothless' tail, hurting the dragon.

"Toothless, don't panic!" Hiccup called, holding on for his life as the dragon struggled to stay in flight. "Don't try to fly, just float in the air."

Toothless did his very best at keeping a steady course through the air, but the winds were too strong and the snow too heavy. When a bolt of lightning pierced the air dangerously close to them, Toothless was so startled that he turned in the other direction. The movement put him off balance and without his lost fin he could not steady himself. The Night Fury spun out of control, flapping his huge wings desperately to stay in the air. Hearing the hysterical calls of Astrid over the thunder, Hiccup hugged Toothless' neck and hoped for a miracle.

They weren't falling downwards. Toothless' outstretched wings caught air from all directions, allowing the storm to toss them here and there. In the confusing, Hiccup lost his grip around Toothless' neck and lifted from the saddle, his only connection to the dragon being the straps between the saddle and flying vest. The gales hurled the Night Fury in the opposite direction, and the straps snapped, separating the pair. Toothless wailed desperately and tried to get to Hiccup, but it was hopeless. Unable to do anything to help himself or his friend, Hiccup watched the black dragon disappear.

A blinding light turned the whole world white around him. Hiccup knew that he was screaming at the top of his lungs, but he could no longer hear anything. Not even the thunder or the ocean that had roared moments ago — just a loud ringing in his ears. The raging ocean came into view mare seconds before Hiccup crashed into it and was swallowed up by the waves.

* * *

**Next chapter (Where are we?) —** Downed by the storm and utterly alone, Toothless must find his rider before it's too late to save him.

**Oh, I know that chapter summary has got you hoping in your seats (hopefully!). To help boost the effect, for me at least, leave a review and tell me what you think! Anything and everything you've got to say is valuable to me!**


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